When a bench and a planter come together as one, a really awesome landscape feature comes to life. A planter bench can be purchased, built from scratch, or put together using potted plants and a store-bought bench. When it comes to planter benches your options are practically endless, just like the benefits that come with.
Your planter bench will offer a focal point, a place to sit and even somewhere to grow your plants, creating a convenient and beautiful element to your landscaping. A planter bench that looks good can be placed just about anywhere, from a private residence to a commercial location.
You can get creative with your planter bench and adorn it with planters of your own, or buy a bench that already has the planter box included. The cool element about adding planters around a garden bench is that you can play around a bit more. For instance you can add a swinging bench that is adorned by pots, with vines that grow up and attach to the arch of the swing. Great garden landscape designs come from thinking outside of the box and creating a look that is all your own.
Here we provide 5 reasons you should add planter benches to your landscape.
1. A Place To Sit
Humans have two legs meant for standing, but let’s face it we all like to sit down. If there is not available seating you are not going to be very happy about it, or want to hang out for very long. A business or residence can have gorgeous landscaping but without a place to comfortably lounge it’s left under appreciated. Your planter bench will provide the perfect space for you to enjoy your coffee, read a book, chat among close friends, or simply relax away from all of the indoor distractions.
2. A Conveniently Beautiful Focal Point
If your landscape only includes rows of endless foliage you might be missing that special something that gives the greatest landscapes an edge on the competition.
Some designers call it giving your garden “bones” when you add any type of furniture, be it a bench, some chairs, or a table for drinks.
Adding garden furniture and accessories that feel natural to a space make it even better, not only do they offer a focal point but they help break up landscaping. It is often hard to tell where certain parts of landscaping begin and end, by adding planter benches you can break up spaces in your yard to create definition and lines.
3. Show Off Your Style
Any boring bench provides a place for people to sit, but by dressing up the old garden bench you can show off your own style, creating a look all your own. After all, that’s what decorating your garden is all about. The plants, furniture and planter bench you chose for your landscaping offer a representation of who you are. Since a planter bench is full of plants and can be decorated to look a number of ways, you have a great opportunity to show off your style, and have fun doing so!
4. An Unexpected Work Space
Anyone that has done a lot of gardening work knows how tiring all of that digging, planting, and watering can be. There is a lot of bending over involved, plus you often have to sit on your knees. Top complaints among frequent gardeners include back pain, knee pain, and even neck pain. Which brings us to another benefit of adding a garden bench—they provide an elevated space to work from. Sitting on the bench puts you at a good height for comfortably working on nearby planters. For small potted plants, you can even hoist them up on the seat of the bench while you work and then return them back to their place.
5. Outdoor Storage Bench Space
Doesn’t it seem like you can never have enough storage space? The more you garden, the more tools you collect, making storage tighter and tighter. Thankfully, you can easily add more storage to your garden without anyone noticing. A planter bench can be made to incorporate storage space, which is typically accessed by lifting up the bench seat. In this convenient space you can keep the necessary tools to look after your plants, such as gloves, a shovel, watering can, bag of soil, and so forth. This not only conserves space, but it also saves time because you will not have to cart your tools around, or go looking for them. If you are planning for a city location where there is not much room for seating, let alone storage, this offers a great way to add two necessities in one space.
Tips For Creating The Perfect Planter Bench
Clearly, a planter bench adds numerous benefits to your life and landscaping. Here are some tips to help you create the perfect planter bench for your landscape.
- Place the bench somewhere you actually want to sit, perhaps someplace with a good view, or beneath the shade of a tree. Just make sure that wherever you put your planter bench there will be adequate source of sun for the plants surrounding it, or growing directly out of it.
- Make sure that you have an adequate source of water nearby so that watering your planters is not a hassle.
- If you are reconstructing your own planter bench, or buying it brand new, make sure that the materials used to craft the bench and planters are able to withstand the elements found where you plan to place it.
- Don’t make it look too fancy or full of flowers, otherwise you risk people feeling uncomfortable about sitting there. Remember, a welcoming appearance is just as important as a beautiful appearance.
- Since people will be sitting at the bench, you want to make sure that the surrounding plants are people friendly. Avoid any poisonous or spiky plants known to irritate the skin with contact.
At TerraCast Planters we offer a wide variety of options to help you create the perfect planter bench for your landscape. If we don’t already make what you are looking for we will custom build it just for you.